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up vote 5 down vote favorite

Seems to me that VerificationTests are a bit verbose:

TestReport[{VerificationTest[StringFreeQ["apple", "lp"], True], 
  VerificationTest[StringFreeQ["apple", "a" ~~ __ ~~ "e"], False], 
  VerificationTest[StringFreeQ["apple", "ap"], False], 
  VerificationTest[StringFreeQ["apple", "x"], True], 
  VerificationTest[StringFreeQ["", "asd"], True]}]

This was the first obvious thing that I tried:

args := {{"apple", "lp"}, {"apple", "a" ~~ __ ~~ "e"}, {"apple", "ap"}, {"apple", "x"}, {"", "asd"}};
results := {True, False, (Pause[2]; False), True, True};

tr = TestReport[
  VerificationTest @@@ Thread[{StringFreeQ @@@ args, results}], 
  TimeConstraint -> Quantity[1, "Seconds"]]

But this solution has many problems:

  • Timing specs and information aren't enforced and preserved
  • Evaluations may leak

What are some elegant ways to cut down the verbosity here without messing with evaluation mechanics of the arguments to VerificationTest?

share|improve this question
up vote 6 down vote

You can make it look somewhat more pleasant by using simple expression parsers. For example, define an auxiliary head Tests, as follows:

ClearAll[transformTest];
SetAttributes[transformTest, {HoldAll, Listable}];
transformTest[lhs_ -> rhs_] := Hold[VerificationTest[lhs, rhs]];
transformTest[Tests[tests___]] := Thread[transformTest[{tests}], Hold];


ClearAll[Tests];
SetAttributes[Tests, HoldAll];
Tests /: TestReport[t_Tests, args___] :=
  Replace[
    transformTest[t],
    Hold[tests___] :> TestReport[tests, args]
  ];

And now you can use the following syntax:

TestReport @ Tests[
  StringFreeQ["apple", "lp"] -> True, 
  StringFreeQ["apple", "a" ~~ __ ~~ "e"] -> False,
  StringFreeQ["apple", "ap"] -> False, 
  StringFreeQ["apple", "x"] -> True,
  StringFreeQ["", "asd"] -> True
]

which looks a little nicer to me.

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